Marine Gen. John Allen has been cleared in a misconduct inquiry prompted by the extramarital-affair scandal that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus.
The Washington Post, which broke the story, reports:
"The messages from Marine Gen. John R. Allen were uncovered by the FBI during its investigation of Petraeus last year. The tenor of some of the e-mails, which senior defense officials described as racy and flirtatious, prompted Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to order a formal inquiry.
"In a letter sent to Allen on Friday, the inspector general wrote that Allen had not violated military prohibitions against conduct unbecoming an officer, the senior U.S. officials said. 'He was completely exonerated,' one of the officials said."
If you need a refresher, we put together a "who's who" guide to the Petraeus scandal. Here's how we summarized Allen's involvement in the case:
"The FBI's investigation that uncovered the emails and revealed the Petraeus-Broadwell affair also led to the discovery of communications between Allen and [Jill] Kelley. According to a senior U.S. defense official, as The Washington Post writes, the emails are "potentially inappropriate." Again, the 58-year-old Allen has reportedly said there was nothing inappropriate in the messages. He is married."
NPR's Tom Bowman reports that the Inspector General found allegations that the communication between Allen and Kelley were "inappropriate" were "unsubstantiated."
When the scandal broke, Allen's nomination to head U.S. and NATO forces in Europe was put on hold. Tom tells us that that there is no decision on whether that nomination will proceed now that he's been cleared.
